NDTV | Need to find policy solutions for people with disabilities: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

Sep 01,2022

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday that there is a need to create permanent and universally accessible spaces to accommodate people with disabilities and find policy solutions. The Housing and Urban Affairs Minister said that about 70 per cent of the people who need assistive technology do not have such a facility and innovators should come up with solutions that are simple and widely accepted. He was speaking at the 'Smart Solutions Challenge and Inclusive Cities Award 2022' event here.

The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the United Nations have instituted these awards to address the challenges of access and inclusion at the urban level faced by persons with disabilities, women, girls and the elderly in India. Puri, citing the 2011 census data, said that there are about 2.68 crore disabled people living in India. “We must find policy solutions and build the infrastructure that people with disabilities need and we are committed to that,” he said. It is estimated that about 70 percent of the people who need assistive technology do not have access to it. This means that persons with disabilities are constantly struggling to get access to only essential resources.